The Grey NATO – 256 – One Watch, Three Budgets

Published on Thu, 05 Oct 2023 06:00:00 -0400

Synopsis

This is an episode of a podcast called "The Graynado" that discusses watches, travel, and other topics. Jason and the host discuss their upcoming travel plans, including Jason's trip to New York and the host's trip to Germany. They then engage in a thought exercise of picking one watch to own at different budget levels: under $1,000, under $5,000, and under $10,000. For each budget tier, they discuss their chosen watch and the reasoning behind it. The episode closes with them discussing a couple product recommendations - a massage gun and some new NATO strap options.

Transcript

Speaker
Host Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Graynado. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches this episode 256. And it's proudly brought to you by the ever growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you're listening and would like to start supporting the show, please visit thegraynado.com for more details. Hey, Jason, how are we doing?
Jason I'm doing pretty well. We're enjoying strangely warm late summer weather here, which is a little bit disconcerting, but you know what? I'm going to live it up as long as I can before the cold descends on us here.
Host Yeah. I sat in the backyard yesterday and worked on a bunch of emails until I was tired of squinting at my laptop screen. But yeah, it's sunny and warm here. But looking at the, this is that fun time of year where you're waiting for the other shoe to drop essentially. Yeah. So I think I think the cooler temps are coming and I'm kind of I'm looking forward to some sweater weather. I really hope that what we get is that those like cool but not frozen. I would love that for a couple months. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not used to it being essentially, you know, we're a week away from Canadian Thanksgiving now and and it visually it looks very much, but it's just not that cold yet. So we'll see what next weekend is like. You're headed to New York like in 24 hours. Yeah. And I think I landed New York about 12 hours after you leave. Uh, so you're, you're heading down for like a, one of those, you know, one night kind of press events.
Jason Right. Yeah. I leave early tomorrow morning and I'll be back Thursday night. It's an event put on by Carl F Bucherer, um, a brand that, you know, haven't had much exposure to or spent much time with, um, other than my, my trip to Ecuador back in August. And, And so they invited me out to New York for, for something that they're putting on. I think it's more of a, just kind of a general brand experience or, or kind of an introduction of some, some new watches and that sort of thing. So, uh, given, given that sort of burgeoning relationship with, with Booker, I thought I'd, uh, I joined for that and, uh, and enjoy somewhat of a free day in New York on Thursday before I fly home in the evening, I, uh, deliberately, uh, requested a flight home later in the evening so that I could maybe make some, make the most of my time out there. I just haven't been to New York since, but gosh, probably 2018 or 2019 maybe. And you know, we'll see. I might just, I don't have any specific plans, maybe a museum or two, or maybe just, maybe just walk around. I think the weather's supposed to be pretty decent. So not like the flooding of last week.
Host So insane. Yeah. Crazy stuff with the flooding. Um, you know, we were, my wife and I were considering the fact that I guess, you know, had we, had we still had the spot in Brooklyn, it would have been underwater. Oh my gosh. Like we had a garden level basement, so you're three steps below street level, right? Wow.
Unknown Wow. Yeah.
Host So I'm pretty sure that area we're in Crown Heights would have been, would have been, you know, pretty, pretty wet from that scenario. But yeah, I mean, that is going back to what you're talking about. Like that is kind of the, the superpower of a great city, like, like a New York is if the weather's bad, there's about 250 things you can do. They're all between five and 50 bucks. Mm. If the weather's nice, you can spend like nothing, whatever your lunch costs or whatever.
Unknown Yeah.
Host There's a ton, ton of great places to get. And if you haven't been to the city in that long, like I feel like you and I and, and Sarah had a dinner in the city in 2019, I think. Right. So maybe that was the last time you were there. We've got fantastic Thai spot. Yeah. But yeah. So, I mean, there's just so much to do just to kick around and, uh, and you could avoid so many of the like annoying spots pretty easily, um, these days. So,
Jason I think I'm going to stay on the South end of Manhattan. That's where my hotel is. And I think this event, um, you know, I'm not that familiar with Manhattan, but I don't think I'll make it all the way up to central park or midtown or anything like that. I think I'll just sort of, you know, kind of do a, whatever's in the walking radius of, of my hotel. And, and you know, if the weather's nice, just to enjoy, I really liked the South seaport area. I remember kind of strolling through there. And, uh, I think that's definitely within walking distance and I'll, I'll be ambled over there and grab some lunch and, you know, who knows? We'll see.
Host Yeah. I mean, it like, it is one of those ones where there's, it's kind of endless options. I, uh, we go down Friday morning and we're recording something for Hodinkee that afternoon, uh, that I can't yet talk about. And then on the weekend we have an event that'll either be Saturday or Sunday. I'm really hoping Saturday, um, it'll be a really fun event. I'm very much looking forward to it, but it's also Canadian Thanksgiving. So I would love the ability. Currently, we have like a later flight coming back on Sunday, and I'd love the ability to try and make that like the first flight, and then I could conceivably get home, jump in the jeep, drive up to the cottage. A bunch of my family, like extended family, is going to do a dinner. Otherwise, I'll push all of my Thanksgiving stuff to Monday and see the family. So that should be good as well. But yes, just working on a few plans. It'll be a busy weekend. You know, there's a little bit of a sort of loosely private event going on that I've been asked to photograph for Hodinkee. So that should be super fun. We'll get to see some, some friends and do that kind of thing, but it's, it would also be fine to stay home and have a normal Thanksgiving weekend with the fam, right? Like kind of spoiled these days with, uh, with fun stuff and, and, and that sort of thing.
Jason So I feel like, yeah, for me, you know, it's been a couple of months and some pretty heavy duty travel, which I'm not as used to, or at least not since, uh, pre pandemic days. And, uh, I'm after this New York trip, I don't have anything on the, on the horizon plan. So I'm kind of looking forward to settling back in and finishing up a few things around here before, you know, before it gets too cold to do stuff outside, we still have, uh, kind of the garden to, to put to bed and, and I've got to do a little bit of, uh, kind of pre-winter prep on the Land Rover and, um, you know, some concrete work on the front steps and, you know, all that sort of, mundane household stuff, but I'm kind of looking forward to it just as a bit of a change from packing a suitcase every other week.
Host Totally. In somewhat stark contrast to that line of dialogue, I get home Sunday from this thing, Monday we'll see the family and do a little Thanksgiving, and then Tuesday I head to Frankfurt. I'm with Leica for the week. Your favorite airport? Yeah, luckily no connection. So I'm actually very fine flying to Frankfurt if I get to be in Frankfurt. I've never actually been let down where the flight to or from Frankfurt just doesn't happen at all. I just miss my every connection at that airport. But this is an easy one. It's one of my favorite trips of the year. This year they actually have something that I get to be very excited about. Um, so, so we, they're, they're, I'm, I'm going with actual work in mind. Like last year I just went and hung out, like represented Hodynkee. We had the camera coming out with like a, they needed, you know, kind of a warm body who loved cameras and like my hand, both hands in the air for that gig for sure. And it was nice. And we, we got some fun stories. I got to hang out with some people, but this year there's a little bit more of a peg that I'm pretty excited about. Um, but I go out Tuesday, I come back Friday, And I'm actually, you know, I'm looking forward to it. I think it'll be a relatively simple travel experience to, you know, no connections, that sort of thing. You basically get out of the plane, jump in a car and go up to Vetzlar. And this is my third or fourth time attending the celebration of photography. And I feel like this year I don't have to do all the same things I've done in previous years. I can kind of focus on a certain story or two that I'm working on, which I'm pretty excited about, but couldn't, you know, just flatly couldn't be a bigger fan of Leica and what they're up to. So I'm looking forward to see whatever's released this year in terms of cameras and maybe see what they've got at a used shop. I could make a bad decision if I needed to. I'm not exactly short on lenses. I'm still running the Q. Everybody will get a lot of messages. People think that I'm running a Q2 or Q3. I'm still on a Q, the first one. Because I can't see how it would necessarily change my workflow or the quality of my work for Hodinkee. I've used a Q2 and a Q3, both incredible, but also both eye-wateringly matching incredibleness in terms of their price. Yeah. And I just, I can't, I can't bring it upon myself because the Q is such a lovely thing to shoot with, to begin with, and I have multiple batteries and I have a workflow and I have kit that's kind of designed. The newer stuff, aside from the batteries, would slot in nicely, but I can't just replace something for replacements sake. I'm just not there. And then on top of it, I've got the 10, which I just simply adore, and I've got a handful of lenses for it. So I actually don't know. I went last year, and that ended up getting me the Type 20. I played around with Josh's, Josh Rubin from Coolhunting. He had his M10 monochrome or an M10D with the Type 20, which is the digital viewfinder, which makes it possible to do some macro stuff with the L-Pro adapter that I've got. Anyways, this is turning into a photography episode and I didn't mean it. I'm excited to be... If you couldn't tell, I'm excited to be back in Wetzlar with one of my favorite brands and so many great people. Really don't... There's not... I don't... I have not experienced another brand like in cameras, watches, cars, any of it that is very similar to Leica in that they're a fairly large company with multiple production facilities and has their finger in multiple different pies, but they operate very much like a very small company. And I just think they've been making some great products the last few years, certainly as long as I've been included in this sort of press cycle for the celebration of photography. And I've met some absolutely incredible photographers and even some people I've since collaborated with here in the city. So hopefully you get to continue all of that.
Jason Leica is one of those brands or, or, or, you know, photography in general is such a complimentary hobby. And in your case it's a, it's definitely part of your work, but to watches. And I think, you know, whereas, you know, people often talk about the overlap between cars and watches. I think, I think photography and watches, there's definitely a strong connection. And then you, you put Leica in the mix with kind of the history and the craftsmanship and kind of the more of the kind of the luxury feel to their products. And I think it's just a nice sort of adjacent thing to appreciate, um, that you can do along with the watch. It's a very portable device. It's, it's very well made. Um, there's, there's, you know, history and, kind of prestige involved. And, and yeah, it's, it's fun that you get to do that every year, um, as part of Houdinki, which is, which is unusual. It's interesting.
Host Yeah. It's, it's nice though. You know, the two brands have a nice connection together, both in the fact that they know that I'm using their gear to shoot, to do basically the core tenant of the work to, to make stories. And then on top of that, you know, a commercial relationship with the Houdinki shop, carrying the product and the Houdinki elite team having done two limited edition cameras and that sort of thing. So yeah, it's, it's a good one. It'll be a lot of fun. Um, aside from that, man, I've just been kind of tinkering in the office. Uh, you know, finally got to hang up some art and I put the Ikea peg boards back up and then I was kind of flip flopping on, you know, this is a little bit of a teaser for folks that are listening. Uh, at some point in the future, we're going to try video. Um, it'll be a zoom recording, it'll go to youtube, but you'll be able to see us sit there and chit chat about stuff. And if we talk about something theoretically we could either show it on the camera or embed it into the video. I'm not sure how much video editing work I'm actually willing to do. The schedule currently makes it difficult just to get the core show live every Thursday. But this is a little bit of a goal of ours, and I've taken it upon myself to just start buying gear to try it, which of course is a fun side. Yeah, exactly. So we've got a wild webcam, the Insta360 Link, and have been messing around with that and really enjoying it. And then now I've been working my way into lighting. So I found the Elgato system and then I've got a, I'm working on like building out macros and stuff into a stream deck and that kind of thing. So that's kind of been like when I'm not, you know, writing about watches or replying to emails or whatever, what I've been kind of thinking about is, is putting together a setup where, uh, you know, whether it be for a possible future Hodinkee, uh, podcasts or, or certainly for TGN that we could click a few buttons and, have a video that we could drop on YouTube for folks who would prefer to take in the media that way. It'd be the same thing as the audio, maybe with a few different edit points. I can't imagine editing the video as aggressively as I do the audio, but we'll see. But there's a few things that, before I commit to this in terms of any delivery, there's a few things I have to learn. I haven't edited video since... When did I quit? My last day job was in video. So 2018? really edit any video. So I mean like we're talking about very basic like take the video from from Zoom and put a title card at the top and trim out stuff where you or I forget what we're talking about or lose track of a topic or whatever and make it look coherent. But other than that like pretty straightforward stuff. Yeah. So we'll see a little bit of a teaser right now but I've got a stack of gear in that I'm messing around with and it keeps you're screwing with the audio settings. And when we first started this episode, I was in slow motion and then I sounded a little bit like a chipmunk. And theoretically I'm now, I'm now back in and lined up.
Jason So, yep. And, and I'll have to up, up my, uh, my clothing and hair game, I guess, or, or I'll cycle through some caps. I certainly have no shortage of caps. Uh, and you know, you've been, yeah, well the makeup budget's going to be out of control for sure. Exactly. Um, and, and you've shown me some, some photos of your office set up and it's inspired me to, you know, before we, you know, put our, our offices on full display, um, maybe, maybe work on mine a little bit. I think I might think I might have to go for a new desk at some point. I've got this very big L shaped desk that just doesn't lend itself to kind of nimbly moving it around the office to rearrange. And so I might have to, uh, might have to make a move in that direction, but we'll see. Yeah.
Host All TBD. Yeah, definitely. I'm loving my standing desk. I did six hours of standing yesterday, getting that back up, which feels kind of nice. But yeah, I've got lots of recommendations if you want desks or otherwise. We might have to make like a desk channel in a workspace channel in the Slack, which I think could be fun, because I spend too much time on the Reddit one, which is called Battle Stations. Oh, yeah. It's like people's home home office and their home workspaces and where they play video games and that kind of stuff. But we can get you some like brightly colored lights and stuff to further your background and get you all sorted out. Right. Well, look, now that we're, you know, the better part of 15 minutes in and barely mentioned a watch, what have what have you got on your wrist?
Jason Well, it's exciting, as some people may have noticed via Slack or my Instagram stories. I am wearing a Pelagos FXD, the black dial version, the one that we saw at the launch event in Florida a few weeks ago. Um, I now have one on my wrist and it's my own and uh, it's not going anywhere fast. I think this is going to be One of those watches I know, you know, I say this often, um when i'm in honeymoon phase with with a new watch, but Um, i'm i'm pretty certain it's going to be a keeper But I think it's going to be one of those watches that gets a lot of wear I mean, you know, you've you've experienced that with your pelagos 39. It's just it's a hard watch to take off and Um, this one just ticks so many boxes for me and I kind of knew it right when we saw it in florida And, you know, now that I've got it on my wrist and have played around with some strap options, uh, it's, it's pretty amazing. So I'm, I couldn't be more thrilled.
Host Yeah. I mean, just, I mean, we talked a bunch about it on a recent episode. If you didn't listen to the episode about the FXD launch in Florida, definitely go back and take a peek at that one. Uh, I, as a, as a, obviously a huge Pelagos nerd, um, and also someone who struggled with which one to buy for a long time. And every time a new one comes out, I think, well, maybe that's the one that I actually should have gotten. It's a little bit of a Pelagos sickness, if you will. Yeah. I'm just happy to have you on the team, you know, here in the ward of the Pelagos insane. I'm a huge fan of the FXD, definitely in my top five for Tudor right now. I think that the black one really, really kind of hits it. Something about that bezel just really speaks to me.
Jason Yeah. And I think this, the sort of fixed, the fixed nature of, of the strap attachment is, um, something that some people find limiting. I find it, um, really charming and, and quirky enough to kind of satisfy, um, or kind of scratch an itch for me. Cause that's something I seek often with watches. I like something that has a little bit, something strange or quirky. Um, and I, and I feel this, it, it sort of deliberately dresses this one down. It doesn't make any, any concessions or, or, um, you know, pretends to be something that you would, you'd even pretend to dress up with and, and the matte finish and, and just sort of the very, you know, tool-ish nature of it, I think is, uh, kind of right up my alley in the same way that, that, you know, a CWC, uh, does for me, um, or, or kind of any other watch that I'd like to kind of just throw on a NATO strap, like a Scurfa or something like that. So, um, yeah, couldn't be happier. And, and, you know, our, our risk checks as I kind of hinted, I think on, on the Slack channel, are going to be fairly boring, at least for my end, for the foreseeable future. I just can't see myself wearing much else for a while.
Host Yeah, I think I did like about 15 wrist checks in a row with the Pelagos 39, and I'll get back to it. I've actually been making like a concerted effort to not wear it, to wear something else. Yeah. Because it just became like, it just steamrolled everything else I own. Yeah. But the funny thing is, is no matter what I choose, with the possible exception of the CWC, which I have worn quite a bit recently, I'm still leaning real hard on titanium. Oh yeah. I'm wearing the Apple watch ultra a bunch. They released a new version of the software, which includes a new face, like a new dial. Yeah. And it's one actually really like, and I've been wearing that a ton just to kind of, you know, keep an eye on fitness and all these sorts of things. And it's just a very handy, simple, easy to wear sort of smartwatch. But other than that, like wearing the Pelagos a lot, wearing the scurfa a lot, like the, the, And that's what I have on today, my MS-22. Obviously, the MS-23, which has the high-accuracy quartz and a little bit of a different design, came and went in seconds on their website. There were several folks on the TGN Slack that made a concerted effort. Some got, some didn't. I bought this MS-22 secondhand. I just love it. I mean, weirdly, it should be the watch that the Pelagos makes entirely irrelevant. But when I was going to the cottage for the weekend, I just grabbed it because I didn't have to set it. Oh yeah, yeah. Like I took... I finished my work day, took my Apple Watch off because that's kind of how I treat it, like a tool for work or for a given activity, rowing or biking or whatever, hiking, whatever you may be doing. But I always... I don't know what it is about the Apple Watch and maybe this is how I think of the watch. This is the most like concerted or concentrated way of how I think about the watch is like I don't see it as a watch. Oh sure. It takes up a watch space on my wrist, but I am... When I wear it, I'm thinking about what I'll switch to when maybe the work day's over, and I've been switching to the MS-22 for the whole week and just loving it. Great bezel, super legible, great lume. I've got it on a NATO, a new NATO actually, which I'll talk about at the end of the show, but it's been great and still really just adore what Paul's up to. I also think it's interesting, I had it on and I was on a couple of Zoom calls with a variety of Hodinkee employees, not on the editorial side, but on other parts of the business. And one or two folks were like, Hey, is that a scurf? I've heard about them.
Unknown And I'm like, Oh, we're getting somewhere.
Host This is neat. Paul's expanding. So yeah, a good colleague on our marketing team, Adam was like, Hey, is that a scurf? I said, Yeah. He goes, Oh, which one? I goes, Oh, it's the MS from last year. He's like, Oh, I tried to get the new one and it just disappeared. And he's like, that's pretty cool for them. And I was like, yeah, no, it's, it's been, it's been a cool, cool run to watch them go and create new watches and, and to find kind of a zone of, of just offering this incredible kind of straightforward value statement. That's like very easy to understand you. And if you know very little about watches, but somehow it's still super appealing. If you know a ton that you gotta be a mark of a decent product and, and, uh, you know, well-priced within the market.
Jason Yeah. I think, you know, somebody mentioned on, on Slack that, that, you know, pretty soon TGN is going to stand for Tudor Grenado instead of the Grenado. And I think, um, we could, we could make the T into titanium. I mean, you know, given that, you know, it's odds are one of us is going to be wearing a scurf and odds are one of us is going to be wearing a Pelagos at any, any given time. So yeah, two good picks. Yeah. We've got the kind of the high, low, uh, titanium diver thing going on today.
Host Yeah. It's it's the, the titanium thing's really hard to dismiss. Yeah. I can understand why people don't love it for their scratch resistance, but I haven't found either the Scurfa or the Pelagos to be especially scratch prone. You can definitely scratch it. It's still titanium, but I haven't found it to be covered in swirls and lose its finish very quickly. They're both really sharp. Yeah. And then just the weight, just easy to wear.
Jason It's great. Yeah. I mean, as an aside, you mentioned kind of putting the Apple Watch on for specific activities, and that's how I always was with with my garments. And, um, since I got this, uh, it's been a little less than a week. Um, so that's not a really long time, but I've been wearing it for everything to the point where I don't take it off to even put the garment on for, to go for a bike ride, which I always used to do. Um, but I think with this, uh, you know, hook and loop or, you know, Velcro strap, um, combined with the titanium and kind of the low profile of the watch itself, uh, it really lends itself to just, you know, any sort of activity. And I've never, really been averse to biking with a watch, but I think kind of the heaviness of other watches has caused me to kind of take it off, and another reason why I reach for a Garmin. But this one's kind of a do everything.
Host Well, congrats on that, and I'm sure I speak for a lot of the audience. It's about time. We've been talking about Pelagos. I thought for sure it was going to be the Alinghi Chrono. It was going to be the one that got you, and I love that you went with something that's like way more directly down your zone. Yeah. Yeah. Very much more straightforward without the Red Bull branding and the coloring and the rest of it. I'd still super interested in seeing one of the preferably the chronograph in person. And like, I don't know if you know, you're terrific. Oh yeah. On Instagram and YouTube, Evan, he picked one up. So I'm pretty excited to to catch up on his video and coverage and that sort of thing is I think he's a very reasonable guy in that space. And does a beautiful job with the videos So yeah, I think it's it's a cool time to be into these sorts of watches I guess maybe maybe this is all of us just kind of or maybe this is you and I just kind of stepping out from You know the better part of what seven eight years of vintage inspired stuff to just go like yeah Yeah, I would say a little bit on the needlessly high-end side of the equation But the scurfa and the CWC kind of prove that But that definitely makes it fun. And when you work in the whole industry, it's easier to kind of talk yourself into those sorts of things. But I'm happy for you. It's a great watch.
Jason All right. Well, we have a very watch-intensive episode here today, and I think it's going to be a really fun one.
Host Yeah. So we didn't really have a specific watch we wanted to talk about. There wasn't some new thing. We're between trips. So what we opted to do was to set up sort of a challenge episode, another one of our challenge episodes. In this case, it's a one watch collection, but you have three price points. So you basically have to pick a one watch for under $1,000, a one watch option for under $5,000, and a one watch option for under $10,000. And there's no world in which we're owning all three of these. The idea is that it's a one watch at three different budgets, not essentially three watches for $16,000, if that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. We definitely have those in the audience who wouldn't spend more than $1,000, and we have some who would spend more than $10,000. but I think this kind of sits in the medium zone. And the funny thing is, is with a $5,000 limit, not only can... Oh, and the other kind of stipulation I made is that secondhand pricing is okay as long as you can find an active sale, but neither Jason nor I are allowed to pick a watch that we have owned or currently own. So I can't just say like, oh, for five grand, I'll have my S302 because it's $500 too little for my P39. Yeah, yeah. Right? So this way we had to think outside of our own little boxes and we have three picks, three watches, all of them theoretically should represent what we want from one watch at a given price point. That feel like that covers it?
Jason I think so. Um, you know, before we dive into our, our picks, did you have any specific criteria? I mean, given, so my understanding of this was that this is what's our, what's our thinking. Yeah. Like this would be one watch that, um, you're not going to own anything else. I mean, it's not just like you're going to buy your next watch. This is like, the watch that makes up your collection. Um, and I think that that, that says a lot or that, that will inform a lot of, of our criteria and our decision-making when you don't have the option to have a beater and a dress watch and a vintage watch and whatever. I mean, this is it, this is what you get. So how did you approach this?
Host Yeah. I mean, the funny thing is, is my brain immediately started saying like, Oh, I spent that, I spent a thousand dollars on this watch. So this watch compliments that one. I had to keep saying like, no, These are three separate realities, three timelines, one with $1,000, one with five, one with 10. Yeah. And there's no overlap. So you needed three do-it-alls essentially, three watches that could cover the gamut. And look, I live in a world where I probably don't need a dress watch. I could either go theoretically without a watch or wear one of the... Wear the one watch that I've suggested here, depending on just how formal it is, but it's been... several years since I did black tie, and I now ask before I agree to events if it's black tie. So I think I could, in my normal day to day, let's call it 350 days a year minimum, I picked watches that I could wear every single day, watches that I've always been either a little bit comfortable with, like I know enough about it, or ones I've always been curious about. And was your thinking any different or Like, I just tried to pick something that I thought I could wear, like I said, 350 days a year. Yeah. As, you know, your everyday in and out does what I would need it to do in sort of a multi-role capacity.
Jason Yeah, for me, it immediately eliminated vintage because, you know, if I'm wearing something every day, I want good water resistance, good loom, both of which are questionable with vintage watches. Certainly, you can bring them up to snuff, but there's just something inherently more fragile and less, uh, utilitarian about, about a vintage piece. Um, so that eliminated vintage, um, versatility, as you mentioned, you know, I don't really need a dress watch. So that opens up a lot of, uh, options. Um, but the other thing that, that I thought about, and this particularly applies to the sub thousand dollar category is, and I hate to say this, cause I do love micro brands. You know, we talk about Scarfo, we talk about, you know, Laurier a lot, et cetera. Um, I'm, I decided I was going to not go the micro brand route, even though there are a lot of good options, sub thousand dollars and a lot of bang for buck. But if this is it, if this is the one watch, um, I wanted some assurance of reliability and long-term serviceability. And also, you know, I'll admit to a certain, I don't want to call it snobbiness, but a certain romance that I have for, for certain brands and kind of the idea of, of having a kind of a known brand on wrist. especially if it's committed by one piece. And I think that really only applies to the sub-thousand-dollar level. I mean, you can get micro-brands that are more expensive, but that was kind of my thinking.
Host Well, yeah, and I think the other trick here is that we aren't allowed to buy things that we've already owned. Yeah, made it tricky. So it might be something that we had in for review, sure, but I couldn't just say, I want my $16,570 for the $10,000 choice, or I want my P39, which wouldn't even fit for the $5,000. I do think what we should do is say, we'll get to our picks, we'll start at 1,000, we'll get to our picks each, and then once we both set our picks, we should consider some of the alternatives that were kind of on the table. Yeah. I think that could probably lead to the most interesting discussion. So if you like, the ball is all yours if you wanna tell me how you would spend $1,000 on a one watch. The ultimate sort of
Jason one watch in this price range, um, in terms of kind of durability and versatility is, uh, I couldn't get away from Seiko. I mean, as much as I would love to find kind of a Swiss made, you know, watch from one of my favorite brands, I really had a hard time finding even anything pre-owned kind of in, in this price category that, that I really wanted. And so where I landed on this one was a pre-owned Seiko SPB 237. This is the, I think it was a limited edition, kind of the quote unquote Captain Willard edition with, uh, it has that bit of a stippled sort of textured dial and it came on kind of a neat looking brownish sort of olive drab woven nylon strap. Um, and I found one on, on the Reddit marketplace for $850. And I think I've seen a few others kind of around that price, a little bit below a thousand, you know, you've had ample experience with the SPB line. Um, I've had, you know, turtles and I've had, I've got a vintage Willard currently, um, that I love. I've always loved the look of this watch. I think, you know, the one hit that Seiko gets is, uh, it's, it's questionable accuracy. Um, and I think that's never troubled me. It doesn't really bother me, especially at this price point. Um, I don't mind maybe once a week taking it off and resetting it, you know, matching it to a time signal or my computer clock or something like that. So, so that isn't even really a factor for me. And I think the versatility of, of this kind of Willard formula where I could put it on leather. If I want, I could wear it on a boon strap. I can wear it all day long on a NATO. Um, you know, I, I don't really have a desire for a, a bracelet on a watch like this. So, um, eight 50 pre-owned that's, that's the way I'm going to go for, for the sub thousand dollar category, a Seiko, Seiko Willard. And that kind of goes back to my roots. I mean, Seiko was my kind of my first foray into watches way back when I was a teenager and I've had plenty since then. And I just feel like it's, It's kind of coming home. It would feel right on the wrist as a watch that I would wear every day.
Host Nice. Yeah. Yeah. I love that idea. A solid watch. Great choice. I definitely had several Seikos pop up in my planning for the thousand dollar price point, including like a 143. Yeah. I really wanted to focus for my choice. For mine, I was really, really focused on Like how much watch can I get for a thousand dollars in terms of something I could do my every single day with? Yeah, yeah. And there's some notable ones that we can't buy, which we can get to in a minute because we've already owned them or currently own them. Yeah, that was tough. So I've owned a lot of stuff under a thousand, but the majority of the watches I've owned are under this price point. If there's a realm in which I'm an expert when it comes to watches, it would be sub thousand dollar watches. And the one that blew me away the most recently for being zero fuss, it's high accuracy quartz, has good water resistance, has excellent loom, it's super legible, it's very stealthy, is the Marathon Steel Navigator. Wow, okay. Yeah. 12-hour bezel, so I can travel with this watch, it could absolutely be a one watch, it would work just fine as a backup to a dive computer, so I could dive with it, I would not have to take it off. Yeah. It does a NATO nicely, I think you could warm it up with a two stitch vintage style strap if you wanted to. You could put it on a mesh if you wanted to. You could do a lot with this watch. Keeps incredible time, has a date. I like the tritium lume for a single watch option, the kind of watch you just never bother taking off.
Unknown Yeah.
Host And it's 960 CAD, so that's like 700 bucks, 750 bucks. Wow, wow. So I've got money left over for all the natives I could possibly want. I can make this watch feel like a different watch three, four times a week if I want between other straps, right? And I just like... I love the 12 hour bezel, I didn't quite have enough money for something like a Benris to get the look. And also there's the CIA background to the Benris design, And the Marathon one kind of speaks to me as a Canadian. I like these watches. I love that they now have the high accuracy quartz. And I was just very, very impressed by this watch when it came out. And it's a pretty under the radar sort of watch. So I don't think it got an incredible amount of buzz outside of a certain group of people, but I think it deserves more buzz than it got. And this is very seriously one of my favorite watches under $1,000. And when you, if we want to get to the other side of the, of this coin, where we talk about some of the alternatives, like couldn't have an Aqualand, couldn't have a Hallios, couldn't have a Scurfa.
Jason Yeah. I think, you know, you, you mentioned a few brands that, that I was gnashing my teeth thinking, ah, if only we could pick ones that we've, we've had or currently own, because I mean, I'd, I'd go CWC all day long and I think I would just, you know, seek out a pre-owned, uh, quartz diver, Royal Navy diver. I mean, they, they do pop up with some regularity, um, below a thousand, between 800 and a thousand, but, Can't, can't do it. Yeah. You, you mentioned Helios and Scurfa, same thing there. Um, the, the marathon's a great choice and, and especially if you can get one new, I think, you know, that's such a bonus if, if in this challenge, if, if you can find, especially in this category, if you can find something, uh, something new, um, you know, hats off for that. Um, my, I kind of had two choices. One is a backup for each of these categories. And I think this, this, my second choice was. Um, I, I strongly considered like a Zodiac Super Seawolf, uh, pre-owned, you know, they go new for like 1395, I think. So, you know, you can, you can get them a bit under a thousand pre-owned sometimes. That's a, it's a handsome watch. It's one that's got some, some heritage, they're well-made, et cetera. Um, so that would be a good second choice. And also the Diver 65, I found a couple of 42 millimeter, uh, Diver 65s from, from Oris, uh, pre-owned for, for 850. And the 42 wouldn't be my first choice. So it kind of fell down my list a little bit, but you know, I love Oris and I think Oris would fit in. If you can find one in this category, but also in our next category, but totally it was out because of like with the Aquus range, um, kind of going back to my criteria and versatility. Um, it, it doesn't accept a aftermarket straps very well, but the diver 65 does. And for that reason, it was, it was kind of on my short list for, for sub thousand dollar category. So.
Host Yeah, I also went the Oris route and dug around a little bit. I've owned a few, so that there were a few that were knocked off, like the 65, the TT, that sort of thing. But they definitely are a contender at being a sneaky good value for some of their Solita-based stuff that happens to slip just barely into three digits. It's a lot of watch once it's depreciated. I think they're a decent value when they're brand new. So you're really going a long distance. The thing... The weird thing for me is I feel like I must have internalized how much this comes up on the Slack and in the Q and A's, but the Seiko thing, I was... The worry of getting a movement that couldn't manage being worn 31 days a month, like without constantly kind of resetting the time. Yeah. It's almost like if I had five watches, the Seiko would be easier because I wouldn't wear it back to back all the time. Oh, sure, yeah. But like as an everyday one watch, I don't want to have to reset it very often, if at all.
Unknown Yeah.
Host Like 10 seconds a year is about right for my one watch. Yeah. And like you'd be lucky. And I have a story coming up where I time a bunch of my watches, so stay tuned to that. And shout out Jason Gallup for helping me with it. But the Seiko, my Seiko keeps decent time, but the way that its movement operates is wild. The amplitude is all over the map, the beat air is all over the map. You'll see this in the story. I got lucky with one that manages to average out pretty nicely over six positions and over, how long is the power reserve? About 70 hours, I measured it. It just does it for me. I dig the Marathon. Yeah, that's a good pick. I like it. Yeah. So we've got a Willard and we've got a Marathon Steel Navigator. Not bad. I mean, both great one-watch options and both good markers at their value for the price that we found. solid stuff. Now, if we take the budget and we multiply it by five, I actually found this to be harder because the stuff I really like at this price point I own, I would buy the Pelagos or something very similar. And I'm very curious because I went with a little bit of a left field option here, a watch that I haven't even had on my wrist in six or seven years, but has always kind of been on my memory. But let's stick with the format. I'm curious to hear your thinking for five grand and then what you picked.
Jason I love this category. I think this is probably my favorite category. I think I found the sub thousand difficult, um, just, just due to my kind of elimination of micro brands from consideration, as well as, um, some of the other criteria I was talking about, but I, I think sub sub 5,000, it's, it's a sweet spot for me. And I think, you know, I can even go, you know, almost, almost squeak under, under sub four in some cases with some of the options.
Host It would almost have been easier at three grand.
Jason Yeah. Right. Right. Um, and, and certainly at this price point, like if, ask me a week ago and I would have stated the watch that's on my wrist right now today, this, uh, Pelagos FXD, I think at 41, $4,200 or whatever it is. Um, it would just be a killer one watch. I mean, seriously, like this watch, it would be incredible as a one watch, but can't do it according to our, our self-imposed rules here. Um, if I wanted to stay in the Tudor family, Boy, I've been smitten with the Black Bay 54, but without going down that path. Which is under five. It is under five, yeah. And it's a handsome watch. I wore one a little bit while we were in Florida. Really cool, very versatile. Can dress up, dress down, take straps, et cetera. But let's not go into too much detail because my pick is a Zinn U50. Great choice. Yeah. I mean, I've often thought that that Zinn is one of those watches that, um, would just, it's kind of the perfect one watch. And I think another criteria that I think about with, with kind of this one watch experiment is, is this idea that you, you, you, you can't opt for a beater if you're traveling to a sketchy place, et cetera. I mean, this is, this is the one you have to wear. And I think Zinn's have a good way of, they fly under the radar, but they, they also are like a little, kind of secret wink or handshake or nod to like fellow watch nerds. And I think I like that kind of mix. And I think, you know, these also, you know, I remember when these came out, you know, we were thrilled with it. And then of course, since then they've come out with the T50, which is a titanium version, but the, the, the styling of the, of the T50 didn't quite do it for me, but the U50 just really speaks to me. It's such a cool watch. I had a U1 years ago. I love the styling. It was just a big heavy watch. And this one at 41 millimeters and a little over 11 millimeters thick, it's kind of a sweet spot. And in terms of the specific version, I really like the SDR version that has the black bezel. Yeah, of course. That's the one that I would go for. And currently Watch Buys has that for sale for $3,340. I mean, I'm well under the $5,000, so I can buy Um, and that's on the bracelet. So, you know, I could, I could pick up the, the Zen rubber for this if I wanted to aftermarket, not aftermarket, but you know, OEM strap, I can do scads of, of NATO straps, leather, et cetera, whatever I want to do with this. I just think a Zen at sub $5,000, one watch, it's, it's perfect. I mean, it's absolutely perfect. So that's where I landed.
Host Yeah, I cannot refute that pick at all. I had a very short list for the $5,000 and the T50 was on it. I'm going to pivot as you picked us in. Let's keep it a little bit more interesting. We've already talked about how good the U50 and the T50 are, and that's deeply true. They're excellent watches. I'm down to two and I can't decide. I'll help you. Well, here, how about if you can guess one of them, I'll go with that one.
Jason No, I don't know. Would it be a Seamaster of some sort? Can you even get in a Seamaster? No, I'm going a little bit wilder than that.
Host All right. OK. And I'm going to make a decision and then we'll talk about the other ones because there's a couple options here. But I'm going to go with a Carbon Doxa.
Unknown Oh, OK.
Host Sub-300 Carbon. Wow. All right. The game time decision where I'm going to go a little bit wild is I want the Shark Hunter. Yeah.
Jason Not the White Pearl.
Host Yep. As a one watch, I think the White Pearl is a lot, whereas I think there's something so quiet and cool and black and orange about the Shark Hunter. Yeah. This is in my top three watches that I love that I have not yet owned, so easy choice to fall into this. I would not even size the rubber, it would come off immediately, and I would put it on a NATO and just wear it all the time. And I think this is one of those... A great watch at the $5,000 price point because it's not... It has a classic footprint, if you will, aesthetic profile, that sort of thing, but of course, very modern with the carbon, very specific with the Doxa and the orange. There's something I just absolutely love with that orange minute hand and the orange on the dial, or on... And the orange on the bezel. And as much as I adore the white pearl, I think the white Pearl's great if you have 10 other watches or three other watches or whatever. Um, but for me, even over the pro or the, the Caribbean or, or any of the other options, it's, it's going to be the shark hunter. So yeah, Doc's a sub 300 carbon, which is 3890. So I got a grand for Nato's.
Jason Yeah, we both could have gone sub 4,000. I mean, it's, uh, it's crazy. I, I think, um, I think that's an excellent choice. I had considered DOXA. I just thought in terms of 24-7, 365, one watch, uh, versatility wasn't quite up there with, with the DOXA and I would question going all black, um, and carbon. Um, but you know, the odds of, of, of, uh, you know, breaking the carbon or, um, you know, you mentioned that you're not doing a lot of black tie stuff anymore. I mean, even with black tie, Hey, you could pull that off. It'd be kind of stealthy under a cuff, but I just take it off and put it in your pocket at that point.
Host Yeah, really? Yeah, but it's funny because the where my mind went immediately was the tutors I've not owned. So, you know, 58 navies, $4,500, probably the best, like all things concerned, that's probably the one watch to go with. I just find the docs would be like significantly more interesting as a one watch. Yeah. Black Bay Pro is undeniably good value and an interesting watch at 4,200 bucks used, 4,750 brand new on the strap. If you want the bracelet under five grand, you gotta go used. I mean, I had a standard blue Pelagos. used for 4,400 bucks. Oh, wow. Yeah. Pre-owned and ready to go with the bracelet. That's just a great watch. I've worn it several times, reviewed it before, that kind of thing. Yeah. But the one that I was really hemming and hawing, the coin flip for the Carbon Doxa was a Heritage Chrono Blue.
Jason Oh, my goodness. Wow. Okay. That's really out of left field. I did not know that about you. Not being a chronograph guy and yeah. Wow.
Host Yeah, I absolutely love that watch. I kind of always have. It's got a 12 hour bezel, so it would capture... It could do the travel. It's got 150 meters of water resistance, so I'm not taking it off to go in the pool or on a dive. Yeah, yeah. The chronograph, I'm like hit or miss on, but it's such a beautiful watch, the blue one specifically for me. Yeah. I find it to be so beautiful. I've just liked it for a long time. It's a little bit big, but if I only had the one watch, I think I would get used to it and then not think about it again. Yeah. Who cares how big the watch is when you just have the one, right? I know that it's not too big for my wrist, right? Yeah. But if I'm not playing comparison against something that's like ideal, then you've got what you've got. But yeah, those are the two that it came down to. The Heritage Chrono Blue, which you can get for about four grand all day long. I think it's okay value for that money. I mean, Tudor's chronographs have come a step further with the Breitling movement. that you can get in some of them. But of course, they don't offer that movement in the Chrono Blue or they don't still make the Heritage Chronos. But you can find them for about four grand. They also, of course, made the black version if that's what you prefer. And then I just went with the Carbon Doxa because I felt like there's something about it. I love this watch.
Jason Yeah. Yeah. That's the right call, I think. I think for a number of reasons, I think it was a good call for you. I think it's interesting when you look at a one watch selection, you can go one of two ways, you know, you can either go safe and sort of down the middle, very versatile, very in terms of styling, you know, not, not something too outlandish, or you can go like, if this is the one watch I'm going to wear, I want it to be interesting and keep me captivated for a good long time. And I think, you know, the sub thousand dollar, we both opted for fairly conventional watches. Um, I think in this category, a Zen is something that the U 50 is something that would keep me entertained. for a very long time while also being versatile, I think the Carbon Doxa or the Chrono Blue might lean in the other direction. A little bit less versatile, a little bit more funky, both of them. Yeah.
Host Yeah, which I think the double black with the Shark Hunter helps a little bit. Yeah. But I agree that in terms of like money well spent, money spent on quality and refinement and that sort of thing, your money goes further with Zinn than it does with the Carbon Doxa, I think. Yeah. that doesn't deny the fact that I find the carbon doc should be like more appealing. Yeah. Yeah. They're just a lot of fun. And then talking about fun, we're at the 10 X option. We're at $10,000 for our final pick one watch for 10 grand. I had trouble with this. Yeah, I did too. I really had to kind of search around. It's not an amount of money I've spent on a watch before. It's not really an amount of money I want to spend on a watch. Like I don't think I've got a pick. Hopefully it's not the same one as you, otherwise I'm a little bit screwed. I've got to pick, but deep down, I would almost prefer most of what I picked or had shortlisted for 5,000 over the $10,000 option. You're getting a different sort of watch at 10 grand, but you're paying... The extra five grand is almost exclusively for the brand. Right, right, true. So I'm curious, with 10 grand for one watch that you plan to wear indefinitely, what do you settle on?
Jason Alright, well, I had two One pre-owned, one new that is right at $10,000. The one I'm going to go with is possibly against some better judgment, but it's a watch I have loved for a long time. And that is a pre-owned Rolex Sea-Dweller 4000 16600. I have found a couple sub $10,000. There's one on Bob's watches. I found a couple on Chrono24 that come in right around $9,000. I think I've seen a couple for less. But, you know, I had one of these watches on loan several years ago, and I kind of feel like it's the last of what I would term kind of the great seadwellers, kind of in the formula of the early ones. You know, certainly a vintage, you know, 1665 would be a blast. That's kind of my favorite of the seadweller history. But in terms of a modern one, that Seadweller 4000, Um, really ticked a lot of boxes. It was, it's, it's a cool watch. And I think, you know, as someone who, who owns a Submariner, um, that I don't wear very much, um, you know, Rolex comes up so often as a one watch option. Um, the one hesitation I have about a Rolex is a one watch is, is the part of the criteria that I mentioned earlier. And that is like, you got to wear this wherever you go. And a Rolex, you know, sadly has become a bit of a magnet or a bit of a target rather for theft. Um, so that would, that would give me pause, but, without the Cyclops, put it on a NATO, just be aware of your surroundings and prudent with where you wear it. How can you beat it as a one watch, right?
Host Oh, no. So I got nothing. I don't have a backup for 10 grand. But I had it, yeah, I had a 16660 or 16600, whatever you get your hands on. Yeah. And if you can find the... So yours, the one that you listed, I believe, is the last one with an aluminum bezel. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That's the one to go with.
Jason Yeah. I've got the backup. I've got the backup choice that one of us... We'll share each... We'll share these watches. The no time to die Seamaster 300 in titanium on the mesh. uh, is $10,000 exactly on Omega's website. So 42 millimeter titanium case. It's a watch that I've gone back and forth on, you know, really liked it when it came out. Then I was like, Hmm, they lean a little too hard into certain areas. Uh, I don't really like it. Um, but I keep coming back. I keep looking at it. It's a great watch. And I think, you know, hesitation of in real world consideration is it's $10,000. I mean, I would never pay that for this, you know? Um, I like my two, two, five, four too much. Um, But if we're talking, we've got the budget and it's going to be one watch, you'd be hard pressed to find something kind of higher quality and a better watch to kind of wear 24-7.
Host Yeah, absolutely. And look, I mean, I guess if we absolutely have to find an alternative of some sort, I think I could get my way into the smaller Bathyscaph for under 10 grand. I'd be perfectly happy with one of those. Not wild with the date display, but kind of love everything else about those watches. Yeah, yeah. The truth is, if I was spending this kind of money on a watch, which I don't really aspire to at this point, there's something about a Sea-Dweller that I've just loved since I first laid eyes on them. I know. And I turned one down years and years and years ago, 2008, 2009, for just a few grand. Yeah. Right? They weren't always what they... And even now, their pricing doesn't really keep up with a Sub, because they're a little bit thicker, a little heavier, a little bit more esoteric. I think that they're hugely cool watches. If you're gonna spend something like 10 grand, I really can't fault you on going with the Sea-Dweller. The name alone gets me, Sea-Dweller. It's so good. And those last ones with the aluminum bezel, just absolute peaches. And yeah, the older... I would go with almost... The weird thing is, because we talked about with the $1,000, the idea of getting something new is really nice. But at 10 grand, I would almost go, find the oldest Sea-Dweller you can get that's in good shape. If you can get older than a 16600, then... all the better. You're not going to use that water resistance anyway. It's just a very cool dive watch with an incredible backstory. All right. Well, there you go. We've got our three picks for three different timelines in one watch ownership. Jason, why don't you give folks a little summary of your three?
Jason All right. Well, at the sub-thousand dollar category, my one watch would be the Seiko SPB237, the so-called Willard. It was a limited edition, and I found a pre-owned example for $850 on Reddit. So at the sub $5,000 level, I went with a Zinn U50, specifically the SDR version, fully tegamented on bracelet, which you can get from Watch Buys New for $3340, so well below our $5,000 limit. And at sub $10,000, I'm going with a pre-owned Rolex Sea-Dweller 16600. This is the Sea-Dweller 4000 from a few years back with an aluminum bezel. Great watch, and currently I found one pre-owned on Bob's Watches for $9,595. So a hair under our budget, and I still think it's a killer deal for one of the coolest watches around. How about you?
Host What are your picks? For my $1,000 pick, I went with a Marathon Navigator in steel. You can actually get it for well under $1,000. Also well under the price range is the $3,990-ish. I think it might actually be more like $3,890 for the Shark Hunter, but I want the docks, a sub 300 carbon, you know, maybe if you caught me in a different mood, I'd, I'd pick a different color, but I think it would be the, uh, the shark hunter with the black dial and the orange minute hand. And then finally at $10,000, I was also going for a 16, 600 and I didn't really have any alternatives. Um, there are several other great watches. We listed a handful of them a few minutes ago, so you can sub one of those in, or maybe this is just a world where somewhere down the line, Jason and I each just daily older sea dwellers and, uh, and are happy because of it. Yeah. So a fun little challenge. This is one that I would love to extend to everybody listening. If you're part of the Slack, so if you're a supporter of the show, by all means hit up the episode chat channel and we can start a thread as to what people would pick for these three price points. And if you're not part of the Slack and not interested, by all means you can leave your comment on the sub stack post for this episode, episode 256. And I really look forward to seeing what what three folks kind of put together as what they would want for these kind of, like we said, three different timelines in watch ownership, whether you have 1,000, 5,000, or 10,000 to spend on just one watch. So that was a super fun one, Jason. Thank you for that. And good picks all around. I think you win because you actually got a $10,000 pick in, so congratulations on that as well.
Jason Well, only by the merits of my going before you did. Otherwise, I would have been in the same boat. Yeah, fun episode. I think these I think these one watch picks are popular and I think to kind of tie them to a budget, it's a little more challenging and a little more kind of real world than, you know, we've done a few others where we've done like a brand challenge where you pick three from one brand, which I think is a little less realistic. So this was a, this was particularly fun.
Host Totally. Well, you want to get into some final notes then?
Jason Yeah, sure. I had this item in my Amazon cart for a very long time without pulling the trigger on it. um, so to speak, pardon the pun here, but it's a, it's a Theragun, uh, a Theragun prime specifically. And this is, um, you know, if you're familiar with, with these tools at all, it's sort of a, what they call it, percussive, uh, massage. And it's a, it's an ergonomically shaped handheld massage device, um, that has sort of an art, uh, reciprocating massage head, um, that you, you, you don't hold against your, leg, your calf muscle, your forearm, your shoulder, whatever. Um, and it, and it delivers a pretty strong, uh, almost a shiatsu style, deep tissue massage. And you know, I'm someone who's, I, I seem to be, especially as I'm getting older, have chronically sort of tight muscles, especially like my calves or my, my, uh, quadriceps after I go for a long bike ride or a hike or anything like that. And, um, I just really liked the idea of these, but they were always a little bit expensive to kind of make an impulse buy. But I finally decided to get one. It arrived a couple of days ago and I've been loving it and using it on the lowest setting. It's a, it's plenty strong and it really delivers what it promises. I mean it's really a nice sort of deep tissue sort of pounding if you like that sort of thing. I like a good deep tissue massage and this you can do it yourself. You can, you can have a partner or somebody else, you know, do it. Let's say it's on a hard to reach area like your back. Um, but yeah, just a real fan. Um, definitely no buyer's remorse on this. I really like it. It's the, uh, the Theragun prime quiet deep tissue therapy massage gun. And this one has all these bells and whistles, you know, there's like a, it's Bluetooth enabled so you can, you know, operate it remotely. I don't know how you do that. Um, but, uh, all these other features, uh, comes with a variety of massage heads that I have yet to try. Um, but just in its most basic form, it's a, it's a really cool, cool device. So yeah, check it out. Yeah.
Host That's great. Yeah. They're, they're super handy. I have, um, I've owned like a knockoff version. Uh, I can go back through my Amazon and find it, but if you literally just Google or Amazon search massage gun, uh, there's like several of them for $50. I think at the time I paid more than 50 bucks, I paid about a hundred dollars, but there was no prime when I bought mine. There was just the Theragun Pro, which is about $500. And I figured I would try this, see how we liked it. And I don't use it nearly as much as I should, but anytime where, yeah, I have that weird tightness, it's a lot of times like I get back from a trip and I've just been sitting on a plane for a long time, something in my body will be upset and I highly recommend them. The Theragun product is worth the money. Um, my, uh, brother's a huge fan. I have a cousin who works in physiotherapy and swears by them. Um, I went with a cheaper one just to try it out and have not been let down by it in any way. Uh, we just keep using it. They're, they've been very nice and simple to use and all that kind of thing. So highly recommend. Good, good suggestion.
Jason Just as a, as a budget aside, even, even more budget than yours. If you, if you have a, like a Black and Decker, uh, jigsaw, uh, electric jigsaw, you can actually buy massage head attachments that will work on those. Um, albeit it's a lot louder and a lot less.
Host Man, could you imagine how loud that would be?
Jason Well, I, I know exactly how loud it is because I went for a massage that was not that great a couple of months ago and the massage therapist asked if I wanted to give it a try and she, she plugged it in and went to work on my back and it, it worked, but man, was it loud. I mean, I felt like I was in, you know, wood shop class back in high school or something, but yeah.
Host I would just have, I would have so many intrusive thoughts about somebody cutting into me with a jigsaw blade rather than some kind of squishy ball, but yeah, that's fun. Yeah, they're really handy things to have, especially if you find... Yeah, if you find... The calf thing feels like constant. I don't think my calves have been loose in 20 years. Yeah, same. Yeah. Yeah, so... They're definitely good for that, can feel great and definitely make a difference. If you really want the twofer, get yourself a heating pad that you can lay down so you can actually sit and do a little bit of work with your calves, get them nice and warm and then hit them with the gun, it's pretty good. And those heating pads, again, all day long on Amazon for not that much money. We get a lot of use out of the one that we've got. It gets warm really quick and is great for lower back and calf stuff. Alright, what do you have? Yeah, so mine this week, as I kind of hinted at the top of the show, is a brand new nylon watch strap that I really like. It's from Watches of Espionage, so it's part of their store. It's part of how you can support the website. We've obviously talked a ton about WOE and what they're up to and some great stories we've linked to it in the past. And they've done an array of sort of merchandise watch sleeves to store watches for travel and challenge coins and that sort of thing. These Nados are $35 and they're awesome. Watches of Espionage gave me this sort of envelope with a few different options. So I've got, I think, three different ones here and I put the tan one on the Scurfa and it's thin, it feels great, it's not shiny, it's not slippery, the hardware is awesome. Very similar in kind of quality and execution to the TGN Nados, but these are available and at $35, like we saw the Nados for a lot more than that because it comes with full on you know, kind of show support and some other benefits. But I think at 35 bucks, it's a little bit on the high side for just a NATO, but knowing that you get to support watches of espionage makes a lot of sense to me. And I'm super impressed with that. I even enjoy the, the options they've done with a stripe, which really isn't generally my, my vibe, but they do, um, sort of a, a greenish tan with a, uh, with a stripe that I think is actually quite handsome.
Jason Yeah. Yeah. They're, they're great straps and, and, I also got a little sort of gift pack from him as well and have enjoyed them. My only quibble now is that I've got this watch that refuses to leave my wrist and the Pelagos that takes 22 millimeter straps. So I might have to place an order with him for a couple of 22s because yeah, they are really good stuff.
Host Yeah, and I think because of the red text on the Pelagos, the 22 with the olive and the red stripe could be pretty good.
Jason Yeah, definitely.
Host I've been wearing a ton of the Coyote Brown, which is like that nice, warm, sandy sort of color, the Coyote, similar to what you see in lots of other brands when they use that term, and it's just really good. Simple, straightforward, nice hardware, like I said, just nice stuff for 35 bucks. uh, support, uh, you know, another great kind of operator in the space and, uh, and check out that stuff. So that'll be in the show notes, of course, but it is called the five I nylon watch strap. And, uh, yeah, I'm always on the lookout for another great NATO. And this one immediately kind of leapt to the top of, uh, of, of, you know, sort of my options as, as it, it does something that's very similar to the, to the, the great natives that we offer nicely made just wears really well.
Jason All right. Well, fun episode. I hope everybody enjoyed that. Uh, our, uh, Finally, we're doing one that doesn't involve travel and diving, but back to kind of our core of watches. So good stuff. Yeah. And as always, thanks so much for listening. If you want to subscribe to the show notes and get into the comments for each episode, or consider supporting the show directly, and maybe even grab a new TGN signed NATO, please visit thegraynado.com. Music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
Host And we leave you with this quote from William Feather, who said, A budget tells us what we can't afford, but it doesn't keep us from buying it.